"Contextual targeting" is Google's practice of scanning its publishing partner's Web pages for certain keywords or phrases and then using those words and phrases to find the right to ads to serve to visitors of those pages. A post on a group of cute puppies could turn up a Google ad for adopting puppies.

But sometimes this process goes horribly wrong.

For example, back when terrorists attacked tourists in Mumbai last year, In.com headlined a story "Terrorists killed the man who gave them water."

Thing is, there have been plenty more awkward incidents like that -- way too many, really.

We've collected some of the best worst examples here.

Each of them are entirely explainable -- a video about US Airways airplane crash would draw an ad for US Airways tickets because of the obvious keyword match -- but given Google's technological prowess, each are ultimately inexcusable.

In a post to an official Google blog, AdSense product manager Woojin Kim wrote, "we believe that with these changes users will start to see even more relevant ads, advertisers will generate more attractive returns by finding the right users, and publishers should make more money over time."

But let's be honest. Woojin could also probably could have added: "And maybe we'll embarrass ourselves and our partners a whole lot less."